What is Case Analysis?
Being law students, we are always asked to be always updated with ongoing legal affairs and issues around us, from new laws or amendments to latest judgments passed or the legendary and landmark cases that ever happened. We all are supposed to be well updated while we pass our way through the long law school life. Amidst all this, one practice is always advised to young law students that is to read and Follow up latest and some landmark judgments and be brief about it so that they are always ready to explain it to anyone who may or may not be associated with the legal world.
We all are aware of the fact that how long these judgments are, reading them itself is cumbersome and boring, no doubt it’s beneficial as it not only increases our legal knowledge but also increase our vocabulary. So it has always been advisable to prepare a case analysis for any case or judgment passed.
A Case Analysis is a process wherein case is studied thoroughly and on the basis of these studies conclusions are drawn on how the courts have applied the laws and how are they interpreted. It also includes a brief account of the facts of the case and arguments that were raised by both the parties and in accordance to which law or regulation the judgment was passed. The sole aim behind drawing case analysis is to make the long hefty case judgments into a brief structured paper, which shall contain each and every aspect and meaning of the main case, but in a more brief and easy language which will help to study and understand better by saving a lot of time when we get back to revise or to make someone else understand.
How to Analyze a Case:
Case Analysis is not a very difficult process as it may sound. With constant practice and positivity one can excel in Case Analysis. Let us understand this process stepwise as below:-
- Study The Facts. The foremost step in case analysis is to study the facts of the case. If a person is not familiar with the facts of the case he/she cannot proceed further with the other information because the facts and background of the case act as a base of the whole case and the arguments thus raised.
- Identify and Locate the Parties. The second step is to identify that who is against whom. It is often denoted as X vs. Y. At times there can be multiple appeals and case filed by the same parties and the places of Petitioner and Respondent might interchange. While identifying the parties one must also focus on the citation provided, as the citation plays a very significant role.
- Find out the Legal Issues Associated with the Facts: What’s the story we are dealing here with? Why are these parties against each other? These are some questions that have to be found out. The very next step is to analyze what are the legal issues raised through the given facts. By studying and working on the legal issues in the given set of facts Researcher will now have a very clear image about what all the given case is talking about and that’s where most of the work is done.
- Analyze the Arguments raised by the parties. After you are acquainted with the facts and legal issues it becomes easier to examine the arguments and sub Issues raised by the either parties. The analysis of arguments will not be a cakewalk and you might be required to read it multiple times to understand it. One can jot down the important keywords and clauses to learn it better.
- The Judgment. This is the most important and comparatively difficult to approach as the language used might look difficult to few. But constant practice and reading one can ace this section too. The Judgment holds the most important place as the whole case revolves around it and it’s the only passage that concludes the whole argument and case. Furthermore the Judgment and Arguments will include precedents, and one should focus on that too. From the point of analysis one should focus upon the legal terms, sections, articles mentioned in it as not only it will help in decoding the judgment but it also will improve our knowledge along the way of reading.
After going through the case study multiple times and with the required sections and articles used, we are now quite aware about what all is going on in the given case and now we even can prepare a brief case study which will help others in understanding.
My Take:
Well, in my opinion as a law student case analysis is highly beneficial for someone like us because it helps us in various means. Firstly, it improves our reading and Researching skills which is one of the prominent and in demand skills in future. Alongside researching skills our knowledge in the field of law increases too, as we get to know about the sections and articles of various statutes with their practical application in the court of law. I strongly feel that we should start reading and Analyzing case studies as it will make us a better Researcher and interpreter. Also Case Analysis also makes it easy for others to look into a judgment who may refrain themselves from reading long Judgments.
I have also noticed that in a case analysis there’s always a reflection of the author’s own views and thought processes, in the way that whether the said judgment was correct or justified or not, or whether the given said case is reasonable or any other personal views. There’s always an essence of one’s personal views in a case analysis apart from the said facts discussed above. It totally depends on the reader and its conscience, how they interpret it.
About the author –
This case analysis has been written by Animesh Raizada, a second year law student at JEMTEC School of Law, (Greater Noida).